Something important disappears when you get to this new stage of life that we call retirement, financial independence, financial freedom – whatever you want to call it. Unless you do something about it, you may never get this thing back.

One of the big reasons that people retire is because there’s a certain part of their career or their work that’s quite stressful. Of course there are parts of your work that you really like, but as you get older, the stressful part seems to outweigh the good parts. You might wonder, “Why am I still doing this? Maybe there’s other things I could be doing that are a better use of my time.”

Then you stop working and that stress goes away, which is great, but that stress gives us something we don’t always think about as we’re getting to retirement, and it’s related to keeping our brain healthy.

I’m going to share a simple tip to have the best of both worlds; to still keep a healthy body and mind, have a little healthy dose of stress, or more time to spend on things that you really want to spend your time on.

In order to continue to grow and reach new levels of fulfillment in retirement, for this next stage of life, we first have to adopt a mindset, and then we have to put it into practice.

A Beginner’s Mindset

At this stage of life, retirement can feel like starting over, which is never easy but especially not as you get older. That’s why you need to have the beginner’s mind in retirement. Even though you’re an expert in your field, and even though you have more wisdom than you’ve ever had before, you still want to be able to approach new things. That’s partly why you’re letting yourself retire in the first place.

As a reminder, the Alzheimer’s Association says challenging and activating your mind by learning new things is one of the top ways to actually love your brain, and having the beginner’s mind will help increase our fulfillment and our happiness. When you stay curious, when you challenge yourself and learn new things, your future is going to continue to be bigger than your past. You might have heard before that curiosity is the fountain of youth. There’s also studies in positive psychology that state that looking forward in anticipation to the future is very, very healthy for the brain and body.

Curiosity: The Fountain of Youth

Let’s move on to the challenge for you; something for you to practice. Think of something that seems interesting to you, something you think would be cool to learn and try. Maybe it’s a sport, a new hobby, or maybe a language. Then set aside time to learn. Whether you’re in retirement now or you’re going to be, set time aside to be a complete beginner again.

This is so important because it’s that curiosity piece that is going to keep you young. There’s a Harvard study that shows how learning new things is one of the best ways that you can keep your brain healthy as you age.

I’d love to hear from you. What do you want to learn more about at this current stage or this next stage coming up in life? What do you want to do more of now, if you’re already retired? Leave a comment on the YouTube video and let me know!

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